Runelords 34.0 - Hijacking a Ride
Spurred on by their impending deaths, Khyr and Virgil rushed towards the drake stables. A slapdash plan was put together, involving Virgil and Khyr magically charming a drake into carrying them to Turtleback Ferry before they could succumb to the mummy's curse. Shadliss questioned whether this plan could get them all out, and they could only reply that they didn't think they could mentally control multiple drakes for as long as they might need. Without further planning, the pair covered themselves with invisibility and snuck inside, leaving the strong implication that Eamon, Shadliss and Alicia were on their own. The wooden building was thickly coated in some sort of sticky sap, which the pair assumed was flame-retardant. Inside was a series of stalls: some sized for full-grown drakes, others for younger individuals and even eggs. The three largest stalls near the front were all occupied: a lean drake sniffed at the air suspiciously in the first, a stocky one napped in the second, and a wirey individual sat at attention in the third, its eyes closed. Deciding to go for broke, Virgil dismissed his invisibility and clapped his hands before immediately casting Suggestion, empowered by his mythic energy. He demanded that the two drakes, the stocky and wirey ones who were affected by the magic, carry him and his companion as fast as possible to Turtleback Ferry, a human town some distance to the south. All three drakes turned their attention towards him, and it wasn't immediately obvious if the magic had taken effect on any of them. Deciding that the stocky drake seemed the least obviously aggressive, Virgil ran to mount its back. The lean drake hissed, flames licking about its mouth: it was about to attack. Khyrralien began to dance about, hoping to fascinate the other two drakes to give them the distraction they'd need. The lean drake began to nod in time with the dance, enthralled, but the wirey drake merely stared inscrutably. The stocky drake allowed Virgil to climb on him unopposed, so Khyr moved to join him on his back. Virgil cast another Suggestion spell, telling the wirey drake to go lay back down and go to sleep. It continued to stare. With both men positioned on his back, the drake burst out of the stable and made to take off. Khyr quickly threw a rope around the drake's neck, hoping to make a quick bridle to keep them from falling off. As the drake took a bounding leap into the air, Virgil slipped. Khyr tried to help him, but he slid off the side, plummeting painfully to the ground. Meanwhile, the lean drake had stuck his head out of the stable, readying himself to breath fire at the intruders. Eamon leapt out of hiding and sliced the drake's neck, diverting its attention from Virgil and Khyr. Eamon and Alicia took up defensive positions as the drake laughed at them, saying something in Reptilian that none of them could understand. Shadliss moved her hands around calmingly, trying to fascinate the drake similarly to how Khyr had earlier. The charmed stocky drake, with its orders to carry both men, turned on a dime and plunged towards the ground to pick up his fallen rider, with Khyr barely holding on. Virgil picked himself back up and clambered on, pausing to cast a final Suggestion, telling the lean drake to get Eamon, Shadliss and Alicia as far away from here. In response, the drake lunged forwards and grabbed Alicia in its maw before taking flight and heading for the wall, fulfilling the conditions of the Suggestion in the most passive-aggressive way possible. Virgil managed to hold on this time, as Khyr wrapped the rope around himself and his friend, tying them loosely to their mount. Eamon and Shadliss were left on the ground, as the treant and the young drake it had been training on the grounds came running over to intercept the invaders. Eamon and Shadliss engaged the treant as it and the drake attacked. Khyr got a final shot from his crossbow in, hurting the treant with a flaming bolt, as Virgil managed to Confuse the drake, sending it into a muddled fit. Eamon finished off the treant in short order, reducing it to a pile of scorched timber. The young drake continued to writhe about in confusion, and the third grown drake never exited the stable, implying that Virgil's suggestion had worked and it had gone to sleep. Unsure of how long it might take for the drake that had accosted Alicia to return, Eamon and Shadliss ran for the only shelter they had: the black tower. They shooed the kobolds inside with them, and barred the door. The pair wondered how they would get out of this mess, seeing as how the ones with magic had all abandoned them. Turning to the kobolds, who were still deeply grateful for the slaying of the frost wizard, Eamon asked if any of them were mages. One of them could apparently cast Spark, to the wonderment of the other kobolds, but nothing else. When asked if there was another way out, the kobolds eventually admitted that there was a tunnel that went from the forges to the river outside, but no one was supposed to use it. Eamon and Shadliss asked very politely, and the kobolds couldn't refuse. Pretending as though they were prisoners, Eamon and Shadliss allowed themselves to be led across the grounds and into the large pit. Taking a winding set of stairs deep underground, they found that the bottom was lined with luminescent mosses and fungi, making a bright greenish glow. Piles of bones and broken branches littered the centre, suggesting that many people had met untimely ends falling from the surface. Leading them around to the forges, the pair met another four kobolds, working at a set of anvils making weaponry. The four guardsmen dashed in and began to relate the story of the frost wizard's demise, and their excitement and happiness was obvious. When Eamon reminded them of what they were there for, the kobolds pointed out a partially-concealed hole at the back of the room. As two of the guardsmen ran back to the tower to collect Eamon's weapons, which had been abandoned for the sake of the disguise, the others gifted the humans with small toys finely made of iron as tokens of esteem for their deeds today. When they were prepared to go, the kobolds gave slightly confusing directions towards the exit: apparently it was a maze of tunnels once one got in. They also admitted that only one of them had ever gone in and never since, because there was a huge, kobold-eating spider nesting near the exit. Eamon had full confidence that they could handle it, and, thanking them for their assistance, the two set off into the tunnel. Meanwhile, the drake carried Khyr and Virgil at a prodigious pace across the land, Virgil vocally regretting their choice to abandon the others the whole time. The drake's speed and the ease of the route compared to on land meant that days were saved on travel time: by the time the 11-hour Suggestion was nearing its completion, they were already nearing Turtleback Ferry. Knowing that there was no way to alter the drake's course while it was under the spell, and that they were likely to be thrown off as soon as the spell ended, they decided that their best hope was to use the spell Charm Monster and pray that it succeeded. Virgil cast the spell, and both gave an immediate sigh of relief when they weren't thrown off. Talking to the drake, they thanked him profusely for the speedy ride and said that he could take a break, knowing that the spell would last for days now that it had taken effect. He questioned why they were no longer in a rush, but they assured him that, though they certainly were in a hurry, they had made great time today and could make the rest of the trip tomorrow. He was pleased for the rest and landed near a riverbank. He introduced himself as Silthior, and the three camped lazily for the night, eating and drinking. Silthior explained lazily that he had joined up with this army on the promise of getting to eat people, and that attacking human lands with an army was a much better idea than doing it alone. He rather enjoyed eating people, and it was a pain to wait for only one or two to wander by. The next morning they continued on their journey. They suggested that they fly to Fort Rannick instead of going to the city straight away, because no one would be happy with the drake on their lawn. They told Silthior that the fort was nearly empty: there were only three people there, so he could have run of the place. Silthior took that as a sign that he could eat them all, but they made him promise not to. Landing in the courtyard, Virgil and Khyr called out to the Arrows. A rather-frustrated Ilsa yelled at them, not appreciating the sudden appearance of a fire-breathing, man-eating drake. Virgil subtly told her that he was under a spell and would act friendly and she took the hint, walking over to greet them. The drake looked about, sizing up its new castle, while Virgil and Khyr explained poorly what had brought them there. When Virgil lamented that the others were left behind, Ilsa sassed them for abandoning Luna here as well. This surprised both men, who thought that she had gone back to Medinipur with Aldern. Ilsa said that she had shown up and asked to stay while she guarded a 6-ton rock, and both men realized that they had forgotten that the shrinking spell had been due to wear off. Ilsa mentioned warily that Luna had been acting very strange, never seeming to eat or leave the room she was guarding. Khyr tried to play it off as mere oddity on her part, but Ilsa seemed none too convinced. Khyr's health began to suddenly worsen dramatically, and Ilsa offered to get them a wagon to take them to the mayor straight away for healing. Virgil, with a feat of mythic determination, resisted the disease. As Ilsa prepared Sebastian, Virgil ran in to see Luna, shouting out the briefest of summaries of what had happened before tossing her the mummy's sealed artifact, warning her about at least pretending to need food and dashing out, leaving her to shake her head at the idiotic man. The two staggered into the church and explained themselves to the mayor, who lamented that he didn't have the correct spells prepared that day. They rested in the infirmary, with Virgil doing his best to console the delirious Khyr, who was very close to death. The next morning, the mayor managed to successfully break the curse and cure the disease on Khyr, allowing him to begin healing. The curse proved more stubborn on Virgil, forcing him to suffer another day. He continued to resist the illness with mythic determination, and he survived another night. The next day's spells managed to cure Virgil of his curse as well, and some Restoration magic healed some of the lingering illness that clung to the pair. They thanked the mayor profusely for his kindness and he accepted their gratitude, not minding at all the use of his gifts to aid them.Category:Rise of the Runelords